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A review by jstilts
Sherlock Holmes: Crime Alleys by Sylvain Cordurie
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
To start with the good stuff: the art in this graphic novel is great if you like a more realistic style, which suits the Victorian Era nicely with puffy thugs bruised and brawny, and people down on their luck visibly suffering from their unfortunate lifestyle. I do have issue with the speech bubbles and lettering though, it implies everyone is raspy - but a minor niggle
The story however does let the art down. We start promisingly enough with a younger pre-Watson Holmes investigating the disappearance of his current roommate (a nice deviation from the norm). However - and my personal bias shows here - I am exceptionally tired of modern Holmes tales that pin their mysterys on either a) nefarious steampunk science that is outside Holmes' ken, rendering his methods useless b) the supernatural, which has the same effect but doubly so, and c) his nemesis Moriarty to whom which Holmes' methods are also somewhat negated. Why write Holmes if you can't write a coherent mystery worthy of challenging him without sidestepping him?
Unfortunately, this graphic novel decides to do *all three* with mind-swapping devices, vampires and Moriarty. Two Moriartys in fact, and on top of that this also yet another "how Holmes first met Moriarty" tale. In a book as overstuffed as this with villainy there was little time for Holmes to acually do much deducting, and it was unfortunately unable to reach a satisfying conclusion for every aspect. As a result it looks like this is a series - but one I definitely won't be following.
The story however does let the art down. We start promisingly enough with a younger pre-Watson Holmes investigating the disappearance of his current roommate (a nice deviation from the norm). However - and my personal bias shows here - I am exceptionally tired of modern Holmes tales that pin their mysterys on either a) nefarious steampunk science that is outside Holmes' ken, rendering his methods useless b) the supernatural, which has the same effect but doubly so, and c) his nemesis Moriarty to whom which Holmes' methods are also somewhat negated. Why write Holmes if you can't write a coherent mystery worthy of challenging him without sidestepping him?
Unfortunately, this graphic novel decides to do *all three* with mind-swapping devices, vampires and Moriarty. Two Moriartys in fact, and on top of that this also yet another "how Holmes first met Moriarty" tale. In a book as overstuffed as this with villainy there was little time for Holmes to acually do much deducting, and it was unfortunately unable to reach a satisfying conclusion for every aspect. As a result it looks like this is a series - but one I definitely won't be following.